Automotive vehicles are commonly equipped with exterior mounted side view mirrors located on both lateral sides of the vehicle. The side view mirrors allow the driver to generally view the exterior side regions of the vehicle. Typical mirror assemblies employ a linear or non-linear convex reflective lens providing a limited field of view (e.g., fifteen to twenty degrees (15°-20°)) to allow the driver to view the nearby side region. The side mounted mirrors assist the driver in detecting objects in the adjacent side lanes, particularly prior to performing a lane change maneuver.
The side view mirror assemblies alone are generally sufficient to monitor the adjacent lane for many automotive passenger vehicles. However, for vehicles hauling towed structures, such as passenger vehicles with towed trailers or commercial vehicles (e.g., semi-trucks) with towed trailers, the conventional side view mirror assembly alone may be insufficient to adequately monitor the entire side regions as the vehicle turns. When a trailering vehicle turns severely towards the left or right side, the vehicle, particularly the trailered body, is pulled in a travel path that projects into the turn.
With the conventional vehicle mirror assembly, the resulting field of view offered by the mirror does not allow the driver of the vehicle to easily view the entire path of the trailered body, thereby resulting in a trailer-side blind zone. In lieu of a conventional linear mirror, a non-linear convex mirror surface could be employed. However, the driver may find it difficult to optically interpret the non-linear mirror image that is presented.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a system and method that assists the driver of the vehicle when turning the vehicle. In particular, it is desirable to provide for such a system and method that enables the driver of a trailer towing vehicle to more easily manipulate sharp turning maneuvers of the vehicle.